Sunflowers

Van Gogh painted it in Arles in August 1888, one of four large canvases of sunflowers he made that month to decorate the room where his friend Paul Gauguin would stay. It is yellow on yellow, flowers, vase and wall, with the seed heads built up in thick paint. The flowers run from fresh to wilting. It was bought for the Tate Gallery in 1924 and now hangs in the National Gallery. In 2022 protesters threw tomato soup at it, and the glass kept the paint safe.

Medium

Oil on canvas

Size

73 x 92.1 cm

Where

National Gallery, London

Photo from Wikimedia Commons, public domain.